Update // Where I’ve Been

Read Next

Well, it’s closer to 525600 minutes, if you want to get technical about it. While consistent posting has never been my strong point, taking an accidental year-long hiatus wasn’t something I had planned for.

A lot has happened during the last twelve months. My life took quite a turn in such a small space of time, and it’s taken me some time to get my head where it needs to allow me to create content again.

The biggest thing to happen was a change in cities. I’ve no doubt mentioned it elsewhere on this blog, but for those who don’t know, my partner and I were in a long-distance relationship. He lived in London and I in Glasgow. We had been together just shy of three years, and it had come to the point that one of us would have to make the “Big Move” in order to live together. So at the end of August last year, I packed my bags, boarded a train and left my native Scotland for London to move in with my partner.

I was desperately homesick for the first few months. While I like London, she just didn’t feel like home. And as soon as I began to feel settled and ready to return to blogging, my living situation changed. Cue the crazy rush to find a new place to live. Luckily, my new place is much nicer than my old place (goodbye magnolia paint job and horrible beige furniture), and I feel excited at the possibility of creating in that space.

And so far my partner and I have managed to cohabit for a full year without killing each other (although sometimes, when he refuses to go to sleep at night and bounces around like a hyperactive toddler, I consider it).

On top of all the additional stresses that come with moving cites I started to feel pretty miserable about myself. Being rejected from jobs, trying to make new friends, feelings of imposter syndrome and some weight gain all resulted in me not wanting to take pictures of myself or even write.

Recently I’ve been working with a personal trainer who focuses on performance at the gym, rather than body aesthetics. He’s helped me get into a better headspace when it comes to my body, not only through his training but through helping change my mindset. Now I’m aware of how my body moves and what it can accomplish, rather than how it appears.

Of course, the physical changes are still there. I’m almost as strong as I was when I worked as a Visual Merchandiser and had to move large chunks of window scheme all day (Gods I was strong then!), but I haven’t been so focused on what my body looks like, which is a refreshing change.

Now I’m finally ready to make some tentative steps back into blogging. I’m not going to promise a certain number of posts per month, but I hope to be able to write and create more often. I also want to explore other types of content. Now that London rent sucks up much of my income and new purchases are few and far between, I have no real choice but to diversify what I create. However, I am excited about the prospect and hope I can live up to my own unreasonably high expectations that I set myself.

Here’s hoping they aren’t so high that I end up taking another accidental year-long hiatus.

And to those who have stuck around and followed me on social media when I wasn’t feeling particularly social, thank you. The constant attack on women’s bodies and banning of lingerie content makes me wonder if there’s any point to continuing Morning Madonna. Which I guess makes creating lingerie content in my own space that Zuckerberg can’t touch all that more important.